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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25214293">bump in the night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThirdTemptationOfParis/pseuds/TheThirdTemptationOfParis'>TheThirdTemptationOfParis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Penumbra Podcast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Other, Peter Nureyev Needs a Hug, ive been writing fanfic for years and I still don’t know how to tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:41:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,076</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25214293</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThirdTemptationOfParis/pseuds/TheThirdTemptationOfParis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nureyev has a nightmare. Juno is there to help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>116</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>bump in the night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nureyev is in front of a door. A door with a constant stream of blaster shots behind it. Nureyev knows where he is. Juno is behind that door. He is fighting Miasma behind that door. He pounds his fist on it, the same words he said that day pouring from his mouth, “Open this door! Open it now!”</p>
<p>There is no answer from the other side, just the ever present firing of Juno’s blaster. He doesn’t say anything reassuring, no witty ‘smile for the camera,’ no confession of Nureyev being the greatest thing to ever happen to him. Just Miasma and blaster fire. </p>
<p>“Juno, you idiot. You idiot. Open the door. There’s still time.”</p>
<p>“No there’s not. Goodbye, Nureyev.”</p>
<p>The bomb goes off. The blaster fire ceases, Miasma is no longer tormenting Juno, and everything is silent. Nureyev waits for the door to open, for Juno to step out, because the conscious part of him knows that that’s what happens next. The door opens and Juno steps out, and he’s fine, and everything is fine. Juno walks into his arms and he’s down one eye, but he’s still on his feet and he’s <i>fine</i>.</p>
<p>The door doesn’t open. Nureyev sinks to his knees and screams. His nails, already blunt and broken, claw at the door, the scraping of keratin against metal singing in his ears. He screams again, pounding, pounding, <i>pounding</i> on the unforgiving door. He begs. He begs to hear Juno’s voice, begs him to stop the torment, that he knows that the things he’s done haven’t always been right, but this is far too cruel, even for Nureyev’s crimes.</p>
<p>The door still doesn’t open. Nureyev screams so hard this time he wakes himself up.</p>
<p>There is a knock on the door to Nureyev’s room as his screams level out into sobs. He knows who is behind that door before they have the chance to speak. </p>
<p>“Go away, Juno. Please.”</p>
<p>There is a small, heavy silence before the insolent lady simply says, “No.”</p>
<p>“Juno,” Nureyev growls, “please, not now.” His voice is still clenched, tears still streaming down his face. </p>
<p>“Yes now. I’m coming in. You don’t have to turn the lights on if you don’t want, but I won’t just sit rooms away and listen to you in pain.”</p>
<p>The door slides open just as Nureyev is leaning over to turn on a light. Juno stands just inside the door, not in trepidation, just assessing the situation. He looks at Nureyev’s tear stained face and asks, “What do you need?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Nureyev says, pulling the blankets closer to his body. He hates that Juno is seeing him like this. Juno, who has only seen Nureyev completely composed, except— </p>
<p>No. Not going back to that thought, that place. </p>
<p>“Nureyev?”</p>
<p>“Juno, please...”</p>
<p>He steps further into the room, crossing the floor to kneel in front of the bed, reaching out to soothe Nureyev’s balled fist, “Please what, Nureyev?”</p>
<p>His body moves on instinct. Nureyev doesn’t look like an overly strong man, but he pulls Juno from his kneeling position and onto the bed, wrapping his arms around his waist, face buried in Juno’s chest. The sobs are back full force, wracking his body, making him shake in Juno’s arms. </p>
<p>“Alright, honey, alright. Sh sh sh. I got you.” Juno rubs his back, consistent pressure soothing the tension between his shoulder blades, “Let me know what’s wrong when you’re ready.”</p>
<p>So Juno lets him cry. Lets him grip the thin shirt he wears tightly in his fists. Lets him stain the front of that shirt with tears. His voice is low in Nureyev’s ear, comforting and smooth, whispering nonsense comforts until the sobs begin to subside. </p>
<p>Nureyev pulls his face away from Juno’s chest, moving to wipe his tears. Juno beats him to it. Gentle hands cup his cheeks, thumbs catching slowly falling tears on their journeys across cheekbones. </p>
<p>“There you are,” Juno whispers, “Alright?”</p>
<p>Nureyev takes a deep breath, preparing himself, “No, I... I had a nightmare. About um... your fight with Miasma.”</p>
<p>“Oh, honey...” Juno breathes, pulling Nureyev’s face forward to kiss his forehead. He holds himself there for a long time, lips insistent on Nureyev’s skin. “I’m so sorry.”</p>
<p>That almost sends Nureyev back into his sobs again, but he holds them back, “You have nothing to apologize for, Juno. You took a risk. It paid off. My brain just... twists it for my own torment sometimes.”</p>
<p>Juno runs his hands up and down Nureyev’s arms, trying to calm the shivers he hadn’t noticed, “You should have said something sooner, baby. I would have stayed in here with you so you didn’t have to wake up alone. Or get as deep into it as you did.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t want to worry you, darling,” Nureyev says, his fluttering hands coming to rest on Juno’s thighs, “You’re still adjusting to life on the Carte Blanche, I didn’t want you to have to worry about me as well.”</p>
<p>“I always worry about you, honey. Even when we were lightyears apart, I worried.” A silence floats around them for a moment as the words sink in, then Juno asks, “Do you want to tell me about it?”</p>
<p>Nureyev takes a deep breath, and nods, “They’re always different. Sometimes I just relive it, that fear in the few moments before you opened the door. Other times, you won’t say anything through the door, I only hear blasts and Miasma, like tonight. And even rarer, thank god, you open the door, but die in my arms, right there on the floor. Those are the worst of them.”</p>
<p>Juno holds him a bit closer after that, his hands running up and down his back. “Do you want me to stay?”</p>
<p>Nureyev nods, unwilling to relinquish his hold on Juno. Juno works with his insistence, shifting the two of them to lie down. He shifts Nureyev in his arms, placing his head on his chest, hand coming up to comb through his hair. He leans over and turns off the bedside light, the only light being the soft ambient glow of the Carte Blanche’s ceiling.</p>
<p>“Try and go back to sleep, honey,” Juno says, kissing his hairline, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”</p>
<p>And Nureyev believes him. Despite his mind telling him that this could never work, that the galaxy would catch up with them, if Juno holds him like that, he’s able to believe that anything is possible.</p>
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